2017 Press Releases

IAAPA Statement Regarding the Ohio State Fair Incident

The International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions (IAAPA released the following statement regarding the tragic incident which took place Wednesday, July 26, 2017 at the Ohio State Fair:

Our thoughts are with the family and friends of those impacted by this tragic incident.

Safety is the top priority of the amusement park and attractions industry. One injury is one too many in our industry. Delivering the highest levels of safety is fundamental to our industry’s existence and is a part of every facet of our operations, including how our members design, manufacture, maintain, inspect, and operate attractions.

More than 1 billion people visit amusement parks annually around the world and incidents are extremely rare. For perspective, approximately 335 million people visit amusement parks in the U.S. annually, taking 1.6 billion rides annually. The likelihood of a serious injury (requiring an overnight stay in the hospital) is 1 in 16 million.

Guidance for the industry comes from well-defined international standards for the safe design, construction, maintenance, operation, and inspection of amusement rides and water slides. Our organization recommends amusement ride operators follow the international standards set by ASTM International F-24 committee on Amusement Rides and Devices, which is comprised of more than 900 operators, manufacturers, government inspectors/regulators, and consumer advocates, and has developed standards related to the attractions industry. These standards undergo frequent review and revision to keep up with new technologies, and have been adopted by many governmental jurisdictions. www.astm.org

We appreciate Governor Kasich’s commitment to conduct a thorough and transparent investigation. We will monitor the process and if any new learning comes from the investigation we will share it with the global attractions industry.

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A statement from the ride manufacturer KMG International BV is available here.